We were thinking of having the boss be able to know what cards come next in the deck and in your hand to always choose the best option (basically the player would have to find a way to force Kronii to have a bad hand), but we were running out of time for that, so we cut it. I agree that it is a bit weird in its current form.
Viewing post in Zecret Mission: Overnight Millionaire jam comments
Speaking on the assumption that there is future development of this game or this mission, I would personally suggest a solution in terms of expansion of RPG choice elements affecting the final battle.
To make a boss fight connect with the core/base game, is essentially to show that "previous actions during the base game affects the boss fight", which can be done in various ways, testing skills and mechanics learned is one, choices having consequences is another, etc.
Simply increasing AI quality, or allow it to cheat, while taking away player abilities, could result in a sense of loss and unfairness without new gains to balance it.
In the current build there are various interactions throughout the casino that has no direct or apparent gameplay effects. Talking to most NPCs besides Moona does not provide gameplay impact, and drinking seems to only be visual flare and references as well.
So an idea is to give effects to these interactions, so that they can balance out the final fight against a smarter and possibly cheating Kronii boss AI:
- Helping Ame enter the High Stakes Poker by earning an extra 1mil as her share, allows Ame to distract Kronii from detecting cheats, or provide other kinds of cheats. A cheating competition route.
- A choice to return Moona's piggybank instead of stealing it, befriends Moona to come along into the final game and forces both sides to not cheat. A route that tests pure gambler skill/reality card game knowledge.
- Buying strong alcohol (not auto-consuming) and bring into the final fight, makes all parties drink up, which makes Kronii's AI behave irrationally. A wild card kind of route.
can expand the dynamics of the final game and tie it together with the core game.
And of course simply adding more types of games Kronii plays, and improvements on the UI like showing the end goal of that fight, would also improve the experience.
I hope the concept can serve as some inspiration for improving the final fight if your team ever decide to return to it outside the scope of the jam.